# CVE-2019-18988: TeamViewer Desktop Bypass Remote Login Vulnerability

> CVE-2019-18988: TeamViewer Desktop Bypass Remote Login Vulnerability. CVSS 7.0 (CVSS 3.1), in CISA KEV.

Canonical: https://rewindex.com/cve/CVE-2019-18988
Last updated: 2025-10-21T23:35:52Z

- Published: 2020-02-07 15:09 UTC · Updated: 2025-10-21 23:35 UTC · Assigner: mitre
- CVSS: 7.0 (CVSS 3.1) · Severity: High · Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- EPSS: 4.7%, 92th percentile (scored 2026-10-25)
- CISA KEV: yes, added 2021-11-03, federal due date 2022-05-03, ransomware use: Unknown

## Description

TeamViewer Desktop through 14.7.1965 allows a bypass of remote-login access control because the same key is used for different customers' installations. It used a shared AES key for all installations since at least as far back as v7.0.43148, and used it for at least OptionsPasswordAES in the current version of the product. If an attacker were to know this key, they could decrypt protect information stored in the registry or configuration files of TeamViewer. With versions before v9.x , this allowed for attackers to decrypt the Unattended Access password to the system (which allows for remote login to the system as well as headless file browsing). The latest version still uses the same key for OptionPasswordAES but appears to have changed how the Unattended Access password is stored. While in most cases an attacker requires an existing session on a system, if the registry/configuration keys were stored off of the machine (such as in a file share or online), an attacker could then decrypt the required password to login to the system.

## CISA required action

Apply updates per vendor instructions.

## Affected vendors and products

- TeamViewer: Desktop

## References

- [CVE record on cve.org](https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2019-18988)
- [NVD entry](https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2019-18988)
- [https://community.teamviewer.com/t5/Announcements/Specification-on-CVE-2019-18988/td-p/82264](https://community.teamviewer.com/t5/Announcements/Specification-on-CVE-2019-18988/td-p/82264)
- [https://community.teamviewer.com/t5/Knowledge-Base/tkb-p/Knowledgebase?threadtype=label&labels=Security](https://community.teamviewer.com/t5/Knowledge-Base/tkb-p/Knowledgebase?threadtype=label&labels=Security)
- [https://twitter.com/Blurbdust/status/1224212682594770946?s=20](https://twitter.com/Blurbdust/status/1224212682594770946?s=20)
- [https://whynotsecurity.com/blog/teamviewer/](https://whynotsecurity.com/blog/teamviewer/)

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_Sources: CVE records from the CVE Program (cve.org). CVE® is a registered trademark of The MITRE Corporation. (https://www.cve.org/) This product uses data from the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. (https://nvd.nist.gov/) Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog from CISA. (https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog) EPSS scores from FIRST (Exploit Prediction Scoring System). (https://www.first.org/epss/)_


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Canonical: https://rewindex.com/cve/CVE-2019-18988 · Markdown: https://rewindex.com/cve/CVE-2019-18988.md · JSON: https://rewindex.com/api/v1/cves/CVE-2019-18988 · Data licensed CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) · Generated 2026-10-26T02:14:13.214Z